Digital Twin Technology for Enhanced Upstream Capability in Oil and Gas

LeBlanc, M. B. (2020). Digital Twin Technology for Enhanced Upstream Capability in Oil and
Gas. Master's thesis, System Design and Management Program, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. Retrieved from
[https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/132840/1263186138-MIT.pdf?
sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Promises of value creation, delivering optimized production, increased reliability, improved safety,
and enhanced foresight, are now driving oil and gas operators to realize their potential.

The simulation results of a highly robust and integrated digital twin used on an offshore, deepwater
facility showed an improved NPV of $211 million over 27 years.

And in addition, consistency in definition and availability of a reference architecture is lacking,

resulting in a gap of a standard approach in implementing this technology.

This thesis attempts to investigate and summarize the digital twin’s enabling technologies (e.g.,
model-based systems engineering, network infrastructure, the Internet of Things (IoT), and
automation.

Modeling a simple production facility demonstrates that digital twins have the potential to improve
the prediction and mitigation of facility failures leading to overall higher availability and improved
financial outlooks for projects.

With enhanced upstream capabilities enabled by a digital twin, considerations to reducing daily
physical inspection requirements are made more feasible.

Oil and gas assets are more enabled to be monitored and controlled remotely through this increased
rigor and oversight provided by the digital twin platform. From the perspective of a three-component
digital twin framework consisting of modeling and analytics, enablement technology, and data, a
digital twin can provide value from a virtual proxy to a fully autonomous system.

Chapter 2 Technology Roadmap for Digital Twins

The technology roadmap for digital twins outlined in this chapter provides a simple working
framework that links the technologies with capabilities that enable the promised value creation.
Chapter 2 proposes a model and figures of merit to measure the technology development over time.
This digital twin roadmap is intended for oil and gas upstream operators to use as guidance on how
digital twins can fit into their business plans and what operators can do today to begin laying the
groundwork for digital twins. The architecture overview provided in this chapter can be used for any
physical entity in the oil and gas industry as defined by ISO 14224:2016, not only for upstream
applications.

2.1.2 Framework Components This section elaborates on the importance of the following elements:

• Physical entity

• Digital thread

• Data foundations

• Modeling and analytics

• Enablement

Water content (X1): For subsea crude oil pipelines, the proportion of water content is an 256
important factor affecting pipeline corrosion. There is a positive correlation between water 257
content and pipelines corrosion rate. As the water content increases, the corrosion rate 258 increases
significantly compared with the low water content. What’s more, the liquid 259 phase water quickens
the dissolution of acid gases, which provides favorable conditions 260 for the occurrence of
corrosion. 261 2) H2S content (X2): In the process of crude oil storage and transportation, H2S
dissolved in water is highly corrosive to pipelines. On the one hand, the ionized H+ 262 diffuses into
the 263 inside of the pipelines steel material, forming high-pressure hydrogen gas, which causes 264
hydrogen damage of the pipelines steel material. On the other hand, because the pipeline is 265
exposed to the environmental medium containing H2S, a layer of corrosion product film 266 will be
formed on the inner surface of the pipe. FeS is the main component of the 267 corrosion product
film. When FeS is densely attached to the surface of the pipelines, it will 268 hinder corrosion. On the
contrary, it will promote the corrosion reaction. 269 3) CO2 content (X3): CO2 corrosion is one of the
main reasons for the corrosion failure of 270 subsea crude oil pipelines. It reacts with water to form
H2CO3, which then eventually 271 produces corrosion product FeCO3. However, due to the poor
compactness of FeCO3 film, 272 serious local corrosion is often induced at a certain temperature. In
addition, it is worth 273 noting that in a system where CO2 and H2S coexist, the partial pressure ratio
of the two 274 also affects the corrosion process of the pipeline. 275 4) Temperature (X4): In different
temperature ranges, the tightness and adhesion of the 276 corrosion product film are different,
which will affect the corrosion behavior of subsea 277 crude oil pipelines. When the temperature is
about 100°C, the corrosion rate of the 278 pipeline is the largest. 279 5) Pressure (X5): Pressure is
also a significant parameter affecting the corrosion rate of subsea 280 crude oil pipelines. As the
pressure increases, the corrosion rate of the pipeline increases. 281 6) pH value (X6): pH is the
standard for measuring the concentration of hydrogen ions in 282 crude oil. The corrosion rate of the
pipeline is greater at lower pH value. 283 7) Cl ion content (X7): Due to the strong penetrating ability
of Cl ions, it could be 284 preferentially adsorbed to the surface of the pipelines steel and interact
with it to form 285 soluble compounds, which causes the aggravation of pipelines corrosion. 286 8)
Ca and Mg ions content (X8): Crude oil contains trace amounts of Ca and Mg ions, and 287 their
corrosion mechanism is more complicated. On the one hand, Ca and Mg ions will 288 cause scaling of
the pipelines, thus inhibiting corrosion; On the other hand, Ca and Mg 289 ions are prone to under-
deposit corrosion. Regarding the pipelines system, under-deposit 290 corrosion is one of the most
destructive forms of corrosion, which seriously threatens the 291 safe operation of the pipelines. 292
9) Flow rate (X9): The increase of the flow rate will destroy the corrosion product film on the 293
surface of the pipelines steel, leading to the acceleration of the corrosion process. Thus, 294 the
corrosion rate of the pipelines increases as the flow rate increases. 295 10) Dissolved oxygen content
(X10): The increase of dissolved oxygen content will increase 296 the corrosion rate of subsea crude
oil pipelines. Because the increase of the dissolved 297 oxygen content will accelerate the oxygen
depolarization corrosion process of the cathode, 298 thereby promoting the corrosion of the
pipelines.